Parcel theft 712/2025

FOI Reference: 712/2025

Request:

Q1 How many instances of parcel theft (i.e. parcels stolen from somebody's doorstep, or other cases where thieves steal a package, for example by impersonating a delivery person or homeowner) were reported between 01/08/2024 and 31/07/2025?

Q2 If possible, please can you provide a monthly break down of the number of reported instances of parcel theft (i.e. parcels stolen from somebody's doorstep, or other cases where thieves steal a package, for example by impersonating a delivery person or homeowner) within the date range provided in question one. Or, if this is not possible, any data that would make it possible to calculate this?

Q3 If possible, please can you share either the total reported value of stolen parcels for the date ranges provided in question one or, if this is not possible, any data that would make it possible to calculate this?

Q4 If possible, please can you share the most common time of day when parcels were stolen (using the date ranges provided in question one) in the following format, or, if not possible, any data that would make it possible to calculate this?

A - 09.01 - 17.00

B - 17.01 - 22.00

C - 22.01 - 09.00

Q5 If possible, please can you share the most common age of the people reporting theft (for the date ranges provided in question one) in the following format, or any data that would make it possible to calculate this?

A - 21 and under

B - 22-34

C - 35-44

D - 45-54

E - 55-64

F - 65 and over

Q6 If possible, please can you estimate how long (hours per month) in total that the force spent on any work relating to reported theft of parcels?

Q7 If possible, please can you share the number of reports you received split by type of dwelling/address where the reported incident took place?

- Detached house or bungalow

- Semi-detached or terraced house

- Apartment/flat

- Office/business

- Any other

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:   (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information you have requested. However we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12(1) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

Section 12 (1) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

Section 12(1) states: “…Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”

The cost of providing you with the information requested in respect of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 27.67 hours) to comply with this part of your request. The regulations can be located at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244

The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of question 1 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. In light of this and in order to accurately obtain the information relative to question 1 of your request for the time frame stipulated would involve reviewing all theft offence records with the keywords ‘parcel, ‘package’ and/or ‘mail’ in the crime summary to identify a response to question 1 i.e. if it involved a theft of a parcel. It has been established that there are a total of 166 theft offence records that cover the period of your request.  It has also been established that it would take a minimum of 10 minutes to review and obtain the information for a single record in respect of your request (as outlined above).  The process outlined results in the below time estimate.

01/08/25 – 20/07/25 = 166 records at a minimum of 10 minutes per record = 27.67 hours

Time estimate to complete task = 27.67 hours

Please note: A response to questions 2 – 7 can only be outlined once a response to question 1 has been ascertained.

In accordance therefore with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the Whole of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours, should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit.  Please note, if you were to reduce the time of this request to be under 18 hours then the data provided would be limited and not wholly accurate using the same methodology as outlined above in that due to the utilisation of the keywords used there will most likely be theft offences/crimes in which the none of the above keywords are mentioned, however, from reading the crime summary it would become apparent that it would be relevant to the request i.e. a parcel.  The most accurate way to respond to this request would be to review all theft offences, however, this would also exceed the 18 hour time limit and would involve significantly more hours work than the 27 hours outlined above as there would be significantly more theft offence records that would need to be reviewed.

Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the public authorities right to cite exemptions if relevant.                                 

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 22/07/2025)